Shopping Tycoon (PC)

Thank you DreamSoftGames for sending us this game to review!

I live close to a huge shopping mall that always baffled me as to why both ends of it are not interconnected. It’s only one level too. If you ever had the inkling to redesign or create your own shopping mall from scratch, than Shopping Tycoon is right up your alley!

Upon launching the game, you get to choose from one of three difficulty settings and the difference is how much cash you start with. There’s a brief tutorial that will show you the basics to get up and running. Most of your direction will come from responding to customer complaints.

Some of the essentials that customers need are restrooms, places to sit, items to buy, cashiers to pay, and food to eat.  Though there are enough items to get you started, many brands and merchandise become available as you level up.  In the beginning, you can’t take credit cards and some customers will complain about not being able to use them.   

The building starts off with one floor and a single parking garage level. You can add to both of them, but it’s not cheap. To alleviate parking space requirements, you can contract taxi drivers and make deals with public transportation services like subways and buses.

Mall staff is another expense. To reduce theft you’ll need to hire security officers who can patrol a set perimeter. Cleaning services are also required if you want to have clean toilets and get rid of floor debris like poop and banana peels. Merchandise needs an attendant to stock and replenish inventory. I’m glad that the re-ordering is automated. Floor salespeople can also tend to the customers and keep them happy.

There are special events and visitors. Every Friday is Black Friday and you’re encouraged to lower your prices to increase sales. By doing so you’ll gain levels faster. Every few days investors will visit and make sure that their brand is getting enough retail space in your mall. Special guests like Donald Trump will visit. While Donald was checking out my mall, he kept mentioning that he wanted a wall. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any for sale.

Shopping Tycoon has forty Steam achievements and I was able to unlock 58% of them in three hours. Sadly, after unlocking a majority of the merchandise and remaining profitable, I don’t see much reason to keep playing unless I want to get more achievements for playing three, seven, or fifteen days. I also didn’t see much point in building eighteen levels if all the merchandise can fit in six.

Since upgrading to a 43” desktop monitor, it’s pretty easy to see if games are 4K ready or not and this title is definitely not. Even though the images were stretched, the game was still quite playable. For the most part, the interface is easy to navigate, but some of the issues/complaints are not easily solved. Getting the temperature set properly on each floor takes some finessing between having enough lighting and air conditioner vents in place. To make matters worse, halfway through my game the notifications page was blank despite there being issues to resolve. Another glitch I’ve found is that the employees can get stuck sometimes. Graphically this game is simple, but it gets the job done. Though the employees all look the same, there’s a good variety of customers.

The voice acting is minimal and the customers say some simple phrases. The background music is typical of songs playing in shopping malls; dull and boring.

No moral issues come to mind with this title. If you have a security guard, you can prevent theft in your mall. Unfortunately stealing is a part of the retail business and best if prevented.

Shopping Tycoon is inexpensive at $9.99 full price. An even better deal is picking up all of the developer’s titles for only four dollars more in a Steam sale. Because I felt like I’ve seen everything this game has to offer in a few hours, I recommend holding off for a sale before picking this one up.